Inside door locks, panic alarms, mental health services are among the array of proposals under consideration

California lawmakers have introduced nearly two dozen school-safety measures that have been largely overshadowed by the more divisive debate on gun control.

The emerging campus-security bills involve inside door locks, panic alarms, mental-health services, school safety plans and funding for other prevention programs. Certain school districts, including Poway Unified, have undertaken some of those actions. Others want to make sure they will receive sufficient money to carry out any state mandates.

In Washington, D.C., there’s movement on proposals to safeguard schools amid continued conflict over regulating assault weapons, background checks for gun purchases and the size of ammunition magazines.

“The bottom line is it’s got to get done and it’s got to get done right,” said Marc Egan, who tracks federal school-safety issues for the National Education Association.

The general consensus on both coasts is that only a comprehensive approach will minimize the chances of seeing a repeat of the mass shooting in December at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

“I don’t know if there really is 100 percent complete security,” said Rueben Littlejohn, police chief for the San Diego Unified School District. “Connecticut had a lot of those things in place already.”

But that’s not to say more can’t be done, Littlejohn and others said.

“We have to build a baseline of security,” said Littlejohn, citing everything from better campus warnings to mental-health treatment for troubled students.

President Barack Obama, as part of his sweeping response to Sandy Hook, proposed setting aside $150 million so districts can hire more mental-health professionals. Congress also has been holding hearings on how to improve related services for students.

Mass killings in schools “remain a rare occurrence,” said Vincent Pompei, a San Diego school counselor who testified last week before Congress on the challenges facing both students and counseling professionals.

“What’s not rare,” he continued, “is the bullying, harassment and violence that students encounter in everyday life.”

Security experts also suggest that schools can take free or low-cost steps, from strictly following access rules to trimming bushes that can conceal an intruder.

“It doesn’t take only purchases and expensive equipment to ensure school safety,” said Stephanie Papas, who monitors school safety and health issues for the state Department of Education.

Special locks

State Sen. Marty Block, D-San Diego, has a bill that would require districts to install special locks on doors so they can be locked from the inside. That is the law on new construction, but he wants those mechanisms in place by 2015.

“After the tragedies we’ve seen with intruders coming into classrooms, some people are looking around controlling weapons. Some are looking at solutions for mental health,” Block said. “This is not an either/or. We need to do everything we can to protect children.”

One way is to have doors than can lock from the inside. In the past, door locks were designed mostly to keep intruders out when no one was in the classroom.

Each special lock set costs about $600. San Diego Unified estimates that it could take up to $15 million for the locks, some new doors and labor.

The Poway Unified School District began installing such locks about six years ago as part of its campus modernization campaign. Officials there said the work has been completed at most of the district’s campuses, and that other safety measures — including an electronic sign-in system at each school — have been carried out.

Other measures

Another bill would require districts to install panic alarms, such as those that bank tellers can press during a robbery.

“What we’re missing is a direct link to law enforcement,” said Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen, R-Modesto. “In Newtown, as soon as the shooter began hearing the police sirens, the reports say the incident was over.”

Olsen wants to address the cost factor as part of a broader package for school safety — everything from counselors to security cameras.

Other measures seek to add features to mandatory school-safety plans. Examples include adopting tactical responses to emergencies, protocols to inform staff about children who may pose a threat and funding restrictions for schools that do not comply with existing laws governing the plans.

There is also a GOP proposal to expand a 2002 law that allows families, in limited circumstances, to seek court-ordered treatment for troubled relatives who refuse counseling and medicine.

A Democratic lawmaker has introduced legislation to restore funding for screening and prevention services in grades K-3. State spending was eliminated in the 2012-13 school year because of California’s budget crisis.

Congressional efforts

The National Education Association supports legislation carried by Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, who wants to budget at least $1 million per state to hire more school counselors, psychologists and other service providers.

Pompei, the school counselor involved with San Diego State University’s Center for Excellence in School Counseling and Leadership, said that money would help.

California’s ratio of counselors to students is one to 1,000, while one to 250 is considered optimal, he said.

Low-cost moves

Papas, the state education department’s expert, said there are things schools can be doing at little, or no cost.

Employees should inspect schools to make sure there are no easy hiding places, that locks work and that fencing is in place. Schools also must follow established visitor and parent access rules to keep out intruders, she said.

It’s also important to run regular emergency lockdown drills so that students and staff know what to do.

“It’s great to have a plan, but if it sits on the shelf, what good does it do?” she asked.

Littlejohn, the San Diego Unified police chief, urges parents to impress upon children the importance of taking drills seriously.